News

• Five ways to improve data center power efficiency you might not have thought of

  By Jon Gold | 11 May, 2012 00:41

  LAS VEGAS -- While few doubt the importance of maximizing the energy efficiency of their corporate data centers, executive vice president of data center technology for Las Vegas-based Switch, Mark Thiele's talk at Interop this week showcased just how much companies might still be missing. 

• Australia's top 10 trends for enterprise IT in 2012: CSC (part 2)

  By Hafizah Osman | 07 May, 2012 17:05

  The uptake of mobility has resulted in desktops and laptops becoming more old-fashioned and is draining its productivity, according to Hayward.

• Shell Oil targets hybrid cloud as fix for energy-saving, agile IT

  By Lucas Mearian | 04 April, 2012 23:34

  DALLAS - Two years ago, Shell Oil's IT subsidiary found itself in a somewhat ironic situation. It was facing staggering energy costs.

• U.S. to use climate to help cool exascale systems

  By Patrick Thibodeau | 08 February, 2012 23:10

  In a picturesque spot overlooking San Francisco Bay, the U.S. Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab has begun building a new computing center that will one day house exascale systems.

• In Search of an Energy Yardstick

  By Mary Brandel | 31 January, 2012 04:59

  Earlier this fall, Google made an announcement that in many ways foretells the future of data center efficiency metrics. The search giant not only disclosed its total power consumption and carbon emissions (mostly attributable to its data centers), but also released estimates of its per-user and per-search energy consumption. With this information -- and given that a billion Google searches occur per day -- it was possible to calculate that searches account for 12.5 million watts of the company's 260 million watt total.

• Aussies worry about recycling phones

  By AAP | 08 November, 2011 17:56

  A majority of Australians are putting off recycling their mobile phones because they're concerned about protecting their personal data.

• Facebook-led foundation pushes for open data center tech

  By Sharon Gaudin | 28 October, 2011 05:44

  Facebook and several of its high-tech partners are rethinking how companies can handle big data with low-cost computing centers.

• Test Aims to Disprove Data Center Dogma

  By Patrick Thobodeau | 25 October, 2011 00:59

  Since January, David Filas, a data center engineer at Trinity Health, has been running decommissioned servers, networking gear and storage systems in a simple generator shed on the grounds of the healthcare provider's headquarters in Novi, Mich.

• While we wait for cold fusion, let's update the ECPA

  By Mark Gibbs | 24 October, 2011 15:29

  Well, last week's Backspin on Rossi's E-Cat power generator was fun. Between that column and a blog posting I made on the topic over at Forbes, I've had more than 100 comments and an insane number of page views which all goes to show just what a hot topic alternative energy is.

• Microsoft strong-arms hardware makers into social responsibility

  By Julie Bort | 14 October, 2011 07:42

  After years of failing to get Microsoft to adopt a formal environmental sustainability policy, shareholders seem to have won: Microsoft will now insist its hardware suppliers comply with the company's social responsibility requirements.

• Top 8 ways feds (and corporate users) can take advantage of green IT

  By Michael Cooney | 09 August, 2011 03:41

  How does the federal government go about implementing green IT? According to a report out today from the Government Accountability Office, the feds have adopted a number of practices that are useful not just for government IT but all manner of private and public company IT groups as well. These include everything from dedicated funding for green products, to improved employee training and reducing use of paper.

• Google, data centers using less power than expected

  By Jim Duffy | 03 August, 2011 07:25

  Data centers have been using less electricity than you think ... or at least, compared with what they have in the past.

• Energy hogs: Servers vs. desktops vs. set-top boxes

  By Patrick Thibodeau | 07 July, 2011 05:26

  Set-top boxes supplied by cable companies are likely using more power than desktop and laptop computers, and about 25 per cent of the power used by a two-socket server.

• yARN: 'Green IT' by any other name

  By Stephen Withers | 14 July, 2011 15:57

  Around four years ago, ‘Green IT’ became a bandwagon. Vendors were falling over themselves to promote the green benefits of their products and services, whether that involved reduced energy consumption, the use of recycled materials, or the recyclability of physical products.

• Gillard faces tough sell on carbon package

  By AAP | 10 July, 2011 18:55

  Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be wearing out her shoe leather and hitting the airwaves to sell her carbon price package to a tough audience.